Digital photographing apparatus and method of controlling the same

ABSTRACT

A digital photographing apparatus and a method of controlling the same. A continuous shooting speed of the digital photographing apparatus may be improved by simultaneously performing a shutter operation and a read out operation of image data. A disclosed method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus includes displaying an image signal input through an image pickup device as a live view image, performing a first operation by driving a shutter, reading data from the image pickup device, and performing a second operation by driving the shutter during a time period overlapping the reading of the data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/315,462 filed Dec. 9, 2011 which claims the priority benefit ofKorean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0019887,filed on Mar. 7, 2011,inthe Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein in the entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The invention relates to a digital photographing apparatus and a methodof controlling the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, when a focal plane shutter is used in a digital photographingapparatus, a continuous shooting speed of the digital photographingapparatus is directly affected by a shutter operating speed, anoperation mechanism, and a read out time of imaging data from an imagepickup device.

Here, imaging data can be read out from an image sensor only when theimage sensor is completely blocked after exposure of the image sensor.Thus, the imaging data is read out when shutter operation has stopped.

SUMMARY

The invention provides a digital photographing apparatus and a method ofcontrolling the same, wherein a continuous shooting speed is improved byperforming a shutter operation and a read out operation of imaging datain parallel. That is, the continuous shooting speed is improved bysimultaneously performing the read out operation and the shutteroperation. In other words, the shutter operation at least partiallyoverlaps the read out operation.

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method ofcontrolling a digital photographing apparatus, the method including:displaying an image signal input through an image pickup device as alive view image; performing a first operation by driving a shutter;reading data from the image pickup device; and performing a secondoperation by driving the shutter during a time period overlapping thereading of the data.

The time period may be before the reading of the data ends.

A front film and a rear film may be driven up and down in the shutter.

The method may including driving a front film of the shutter away from arear film so as to display a next live view image after the secondoperation ends and after the reading of the data ends.

The performing of the second operation may include driving a front filmand a rear film of the shutter in a same direction.

The performing of the second operation may include: driving a front filmand a rear film of the shutter in a same direction during the reading ofthe data; and driving the front film away from the rear file whenreading of the data ends.

The performing of the first operation may be performed in response to ashutter release signal.

The method may further include exposing the image pickup device to lightafter performing the first operation.

The shutter may be a focal plane shutter.

The reading of the data and the performing of the second operation maybe performed during overlapping time intervals.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a methodof controlling a digital photographing apparatus, the method including:displaying a first live view image; performing a first operation bydriving a shutter so as to perform a first photographing in response toa shutter release signal; exposing an image pickup device to light;reading data from the image pickup device; and performing a secondoperation by driving the shutter so as to display a second live viewimage while reading the data.

The performing of the second operation may include: driving a front filmand a rear film of the shutter in a same direction during the reading ofthe data; and driving the front film away from the rear film after thereading of the data ends.

The method may further include: displaying the second live view image;and performing a second photographing in response to the shutter releasesignal.

The first photographing and second photographing may be continuousphotographing operations.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided adigital photographing apparatus including: an image pickup device forphotographing a subject; and a digital signal processor for outputting afirst driving control signal for driving a shutter in response to ashutter release signal, reading data from the image pickup device, andoutputting a second driving control signal for driving the shutterduring the reading of the data.

The digital signal processor may include: a shutter drive controller foroutputting the first and second driving control signals; and a datareader for reading the data from the image pickup device.

A front film and a rear film may be driven up and down in the shutter,the second driving control signal may be a signal for driving the frontand rear films in a same direction during the reading of the data, andfor driving the front film away from the rear film when the reading ofthe data ends.

The digital photographing apparatus may further include a display unitfor displaying an image signal input through the image pickup device asa live view image according to control of the digital signal processor,wherein the digital signal processor controls the display unit todisplay a next live view image after the second driving control signalis output.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages of the invention will becomemore apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof withreference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic structure of adigital photographing apparatus, according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the digital signal processor ofFIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 3A to 3F are diagrams illustrating operations of a shutter film ofFIG.1;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating, respectively, a conventionalphotographing operation and a photographing operation according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are graphs illustrating, respectively, operations of afront film and a rear film, according to an conventional technology andaccording to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representing a method of controlling a digitalphotographing apparatus, according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, the invention will be described more fully with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of theinvention are shown. The invention may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as being limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. Also,while describing the invention, detailed descriptions about relatedwell-known functions or configurations that may diminish the clarity ofthe points of the invention are omitted.

It will be understood that although the terms first and second are usedherein to describe various elements, these elements should not belimited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another element.

The terms used in the present specification are merely used to describeparticular embodiments, and are not intended to limit the invention. Anexpression used in the singular encompasses the expression of theplural, unless it has a clearly different meaning in the context. In thepresent specification, it is to be understood that the terms such as“including” or “having,” etc., are intended to indicate the existence ofthe features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, orcombinations thereof disclosed in the specification, and are notintended to preclude the possibility that one or more other features,numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof mayexist or may be added.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail withreference to accompanying drawings. In drawings, like reference numeralsdenote like elements, and overlapping explanations are omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic structure of adigital photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of theinvention.

In FIG. 1, a digital camera 100 is illustrated as an example of thedigital photographing apparatus. However, the digital photographingapparatus is not limited to the digital camera 100 of FIG. 1, and may beanother digital device such as a camera phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), or a portable multimedia player (PMP).

The digital camera 100 according to the current embodiment of theinvention includes a lens unit 110, a lens unit driver 111, an iris 112,an iris driver 113, an image pickup device 115, an image pickup devicecontroller 116, an analog signal processor 120, a program storage unit130, a buffer storage unit 140, a data storage unit 150, a displaydriver 162, a display unit 160, a digital signal processor (DSP) 200,and a manipulator 170. Here, the lens unit 110, the lens unit driver111, the iris 112, the iris driver 113, a shutter 114, a shutter driver117, the image pickup device 115, the image pickup device controller116, and the analog signal processor 120 may be referred to collectivelyas an imaging unit.

The shutter 114 includes a front film 114-1 and a rear film 114-2, whichare driven up and down according to a driving control signal of theshutter driver 117. Here, the shutter 114 is a focal plane shutter.Generally, a focal plane shutter includes two cloth films or metal filmson the right and left of or above and below a lens, or directly before afocal surface of the lens, and suitably exposes a photosensitivematerial surface by adjusting slits of a front film and a rear film, ormoving speeds of the front and rear films. The focal plane shutter ismost often used in a lens-exchangeable camera. Moreover, the focal planeshutter is used most often in a camera having an imaging sensor smallerthan or equal to 6 centimeters (cm)×6 cm, and determines a film speedand determines an exposure time by only adjusting a slit width using aspeed regulator or an electromagnet that is electrically controlled.Main characteristics of the focal plane shutter are that an exchangeablelens may be used, and a high speed shutter is easily realized.

The lens unit 110 focuses an optical signal. The lens unit 110 mayinclude a zoom lens for narrowing or widening a view angle according toa focal length, and a focus lens for adjusting a focus on a subject. Thezoom lens and the focus lens may each be realized in one lens, or agroup of a plurality of lenses.

The iris 112 adjusts an amount of incident light by adjusting a degreeof opening and closing of the iris 112.

The lens unit driver 111 and the iris driver 113 receive a respectivecontrol signal from the DSP 200 to respectively drive the lens unit 110and the iris 112. The lens unit driver 111 adjusts a focal length byadjusting a location of a lens, and performs auto focusing, zoom change,focus change, etc. The iris driver 113 adjusts the degree of opening andclosing of the iris 112, and specifically, performs auto focusing,automatic exposure correction, focus change, depth of field adjustment,or the like by adjusting an f number or an iris value.

The optical signal passed through the lens unit 110 forms an image of asubject on a light-receiving surface of the image pickup device 115. Theimage pickup device 115 may use a charge coupled device (CCD), acomplementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor (CIS), or ahigh-speed image sensor that converts the optical signal to an electricsignal. Sensitivity or the like of the image pickup device 115 may beadjusted by the image pickup device controller 116. The image pickupdevice controller 116 may control the image pickup device 115 accordingto a control signal automatically generated based on an image signalthat is input in real time, or a control signal manually input by auser.

An exposure time of the image pickup device 115 is adjusted according toa driving speed of the shutter 114. The front film 114-1 and the rearfilm 114-2 move while having a slit having a predetermined intervaltherebetween to adjust an amount of light incident on the image pickupdevice 115.

The analog signal processor 120 performs a noise reduction process, gainadjustment, waveform normalization, and an analog-digital convertingprocess on an analog signal supplied from the image pickup device 115.

An external control signal from a user or the like may be input to themanipulator 170. The manipulator 170 may include a shutter-releasebutton that outputs a shutter-release signal for capturing a picture byexposing the image pickup device 115 to light for a predetermined time,a power button that receives a control signal for controlling on or offof a power supply, a wide-zoom button and a tele-zoom button forwidening or narrowing a view angle according to an input, and othervarious functional buttons for inputting a character, selecting a modesuch as a photographing mode or a reproduction mode, selecting a whitebalance setting function, and selecting an exposure setting function.According to an embodiment of the invention, the user may select an autoimage process mode via the manipulator 170. Here, in the auto imageprocess mode, an image processing type or an image processing intensityis automatically set based on surrounding brightness, instead of beingmanually set by the user. The manipulator 170 may include variousbuttons as described, but alternatively, the manipulator 170 may berealized in any form for receiving an input from the user, such as akeyboard, a touch pad, a touch screen, or a remote controller.

The digital camera 100 includes the program storage unit 130 for storinga program such as an operating system or application system for drivingthe digital camera 100, the buffer storage unit 140 for temporarilystoring data required during an operation or data obtained via theoperation, and the data storage unit 150 for storing various types ofinformation required for the program such as an image file including animage signal.

Further, the digital camera 100 includes the display unit 160 fordisplaying an operation state of the digital camera 100 or imageinformation captured by the digital camera 100. The display unit 160 mayprovide visual or auditory information to the user. In order to providethe visual information, the display unit 160 may include a liquidcrystal display (LCD) panel, an organic light emitting display (OLED)panel, or the like. The display driver 162 provides a drive signal tothe display unit 160.

Also, the digital camera 100 includes the DSP 200 for processing areceived image signal, and controlling each element according to theprocessed image signal or an external input signal. The DSP 200 reducesnoise in received image data, and may perform an image signal processfor improving image quality such as gamma correction, color filter arrayinterpolation, color matrix, color correction, or color enhancement.Also, the DSP 200 may generate an image file by compressing image datagenerated by the image signal process for improving image quality, orrestore image data from the image file. An image may be compressedreversibly or irreversibly. The image may be converted to a jointphotographic experts group (JPEG) format or a JPEG 2000 format. Thecompressed image data may be stored in the data storage unit 150. TheDSP 200 may perform a clearness process, a color process, a blurprocess, an edge emphasizing process, an image analyzing process, animage recognizing process, or an image effect process. The imagerecognizing process may be performed by recognizing a face or a scene.For example, the DSP 200 may perform luminance level adjustment, colorcorrection, contrast adjustment, outline emphasizing adjustment, ascreen dividing process, character image generation, or an imagesynthesizing process.

Also, the DSP 200 may execute the program stored in the program storageunit 130, generate a control signal for controlling auto focusing, zoomchange, focus change, automatic exposure correction, or shutter driveusing a separate module to provide the control signal to the lens unitdriver 111, the iris driver 113, the image pickup device controller 116,or the shutter driver 117, and control overall operations of theelements included in the digital camera 100.

The DSP 200 outputs a driving control signal for driving the shutter 114in response to the shutter release signal output by the manipulator 170.Also, the DSP 200 performs an exposure operation by driving the shutter114 to transmit light to the image pickup device 115, and a data readingoperation for reading an electric signal (hereinafter, referred to asdata, an image signal, or an input image) accumulated through the imagepickup device 115. Also, the DSP 200 starts to output a driving controlsignal again for driving the shutter 114 during the reading of the datafrom the image pickup device 115, so that the data is read while theshutter 114 is driven to prepare for a next photographing.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the DSP 200 of FIG. 1, accordingto an embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the DSP 200 includes a shutter drive controller 210and a data reader 220. The shutter drive controller 210 outputs a firstdriving control signal and a second driving control signal. Here, thefirst driving control signal is a signal for enabling the shutter 114 toperform an exposure operation and a data reading operation in responseto a shutter release signal. The second driving control signal is asignal for enabling the shutter 114 to prepare for another exposureoperation and is output during the reading of the data. Operations ofthe shutter 114 will be described in detail later with reference toFIGS. 3A through 3F.

The data reader 220 reads data from the image pickup device 115.

Movements of the shutter 114 related to an overall photographingoperation will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3A through 3F.

FIG. 3A shows a live view state. A live view is a state where a userphotographs via the display unit 160, for example, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), instead of a view finder. Accordingly, the front film114-1 and the rear film 114-2 of the shutter 114 are both opened, and,thus, light passed through the lens unit 110 forms an image on the imagepickup device 115.

FIG. 3B shows a closed state of shutter. A photographing operationstarts as the user completely presses the shutter release button. Thefront film 114-1 is driven upward to combine with the rear film 114-2according to a shutter release signal corresponding to the shutterrelease button, as shown in FIG. 3B, and the shutter 114 maintains theclosed state so that the light is not transmitted to the image pickupdevice 115.

FIG. 3C shows an exposure state. After the front film 114-1 is drivenupward to combine with the rear film 114-2 as shown in FIG. 3B, anexposure operation is performed by driving the front film 114-1 and therear film 114-2 downward while maintaining a slit having a predeterminedinterval between the front and rear films 114-1 and 114-2, as shown inFIG. 3C. Here, the slit is obtained via a starting time differencebetween the front and rear films 114-1 and 114-2, and an exposure timemay be adjusted according to movement speeds of the front and rear films114-1 and 114-2. Accordingly, the exposure operation is performed viathe slit of the front and rear films 114-1 and 114-2.

FIG. 3D shows an exposure completion state. The front and rear films114-1 and 114-2 are driven downward, and then the rear film 114-2 isdriven further to contact the front film 114-1, as shown in FIG. 3D.Reading of data accumulated in the image pickup device 115 is startedwhen the exposure is completed, i.e., when no additional light entersthe image pickup device 115, since a data reading operation is onlyperformed when the image pickup device 115 is completely blocked fromlight.

FIG. 3E shows an opening preparation state. Driving of the front andrear films 114-1 and 114-2 of the shutter 114 back to an opened state isstarted at a time during the reading of the data in FIG. 3D. In otherwords, as shown in FIG. 3E, the front and rear films 114-1 and 114-2 aredriven upward while contacting each other. Since the image pickup device115 is closed while the first and rear films 114-1 and 114-2 are driven,the data reading operation of the image pickup device 115 can continueduring the opening preparation.

FIG. 3F shows the opened state. After the front and rear films 114-1 and114-2 are driven upward, the front film 114-1 is driven downward after atime when the data reading operation ends, and the rear film 114-2 iscontinuously driven upward so that the image pickup device 115 iscompletely opened. FIG. 3F shows the live view state, like FIG. 3A.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for respectively describing a conventionalphotographing operation and a photographing operation according to anembodiment of the invention. A time required for photographingassociated with the shutter operation will now be described withreference to FIGS. 3A through 3F, 4A, and 4B. Here, data processingspeeds of an image pickup device, a shutter, and a DSP, which areelements for determining an exposure time, a data reading time, or thelike, are considered to be the same. FIG. 4A is a diagram for describinga conventional shutter operation and a time required for photographingcorresponding to the conventional shutter operation.

Referring to FIGS. 3A through 3F and 4A, when the shutter release buttonis completely pressed in the live view state of FIG. 3A, 65 milliseconds(ms) is spent in the closed state corresponding to FIG. 3B, and 10 ms isspent for the exposure corresponding to FIG. 3C. After the exposure iscompleted, 190 ms is spent for the data reading operation. After thedata reading operation is completed, 75 ms is spent to start the openingoperation corresponding to FIG. 3E and maintain the opened state of FIG.3F. Accordingly, a total of 340 ms is spent as a total photographingtime, i.e., from pressing the shutter release button to preparing for anext photographing in a live view. Such a time is also referred to as ashot to shot (STS) time.

FIG. 4B is a diagram for describing a shutter operation, according to anembodiment of the invention, and a time required for photographingcorresponding to the shutter operation.

Referring to FIGS. 3A through 3F and 4B, when the shutter release buttonis completely pressed in the live view state of FIG. 3A, 65 ms is spentin the closed state corresponding to FIG. 3B, and 10 ms is spent in theexposure corresponding to FIG. 3C. After the exposure is completed, 190ms is spent in the data reading operation. According to the currentembodiment of the invention, the opening preparation operation isstarted at a time overlapping the reading data operation. In FIG. 4B,the opening operation corresponding to FIG. 3E is started at a time when150 ms of the data reading time has passed. Since the front and rearfilms 114-1 and 114-2 are driven upward while contacting each other fora predetermined time, the image pickup device 115 still maintains theclosed state and the data reading operation can continue during thistime. Then, at a time when the data reading operation ends, i.e., 190 msafter the data reading starts, the front film 114-1 is driven downwardagain to achieve the live view for a next photographing by maintainingthe opening state of FIG. 3F. Accordingly, an STS time in the currentembodiment of the invention is 300 ms. Thus, the STS time in FIG. 4B maybe shorter than the STS time in FIG. 4A by 40 ms, and when the STS timesare converted into terms of continuous shooting speeds, the continuousshooting speed of FIG. 4A is 2.94 frames per second (fps) while thecontinuous shooting speed of FIG. 4B is greater at 3.36 fps. Also, alive view image for a next photographing after a current photographingmay be shown to the user 40 ms faster.

FIG. 5A is a graph illustrating operations of a front film 114-1 and arear film 114-2 according to conventional technology, and FIG. 5B is agraph illustrating operations of a front film 114-1 and a rear film114-2 according to an embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the front film 114-1 and the rear film114-2 maintain an opened state while displaying a live view until a timet. When a shutter release signal is input at the time t, the front film114-1 elevates before a time t+1 and then maintains a uniform slitinterval relative to the rear film 114-2 to prepare to effect anexposure. An exposure operation is performed from the time t+1 to a timet+2. During this time, the front film 114-1 and the rear film 114-2descend while maintaining the predetermined slit interval. A datareading operation is performed from the time t+2 to a time t+4.

According to the current embodiment of the invention, the front film114-1 and the rear film 114-2 elevate while contacting each otherstarting at a time t+3, which is a time before the time t+4. As shown inFIG. 5B, the time t+3 is a time occurring with the time interval t+2 tot+4 for reading data. In other words, the time t+3 is a time before thedata reading operation ends. In the current embodiment of the invention,the front film 114-1 and the rear film 114-2 elevate together from thetime t+3 to the time t+4 (a time when the data reading operation ends),and the front film 114-1 descends at the time t+4. Accordingly, a liveview for a next photographing may be displayed from the time t+4.

However, as shown in FIG. 5A, the front film 114-1 and the rear film114-2 are stopped until the time t+4, according to the conventionaltechnology, and the front film 114-1 and the rear film 114-2 start onlyto elevate at the time t+4, that is, the time when the data readingoperation ends. Then, the front film 114-1 starts to descend at a timet+5 to display a live view.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5B, an STS time and a live view displaytime for a next photographing according to the current embodiment of theinvention may be reduced by a difference between the time t+3 and thetime t+4 compared to the conventional technology.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representing a method of controlling a digitalphotographing apparatus, according to an embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a live view is displayed in operation 600. When ashutter release signal is input in operation 602, a shutter film isdriven in operation 604, and when the shutter release signal is notinput in operation 602, the live view is continuously displayed inoperation 600. An exposure operation is started by driving the shutterfilm in operation 606, and the exposure operation ends after apredetermined time, i.e., when an exposure time ends, in operation 608.

In operation 610, a data reading operation starts to be performed in animage sensor. Here, data is read only when the image sensor iscompletely blocked from light. Accordingly at this time, the shutterfilm completely blocks the image sensor.

In operation 612, the shutter film is driven during a time interval forreading the data. In other words, the shutter film is driven for a nextphotographing during the data reading operation of operation 610. Indetail, since a front film and a rear film elevate while contacting eachother, the image sensor is blocked, and, thus, the data readingoperation is not affected even while the shutter film is driven for anext photographing.

In operation 614, the data reading operation ends. A live view isdisplayed in operation 616 by descending the front film at a time afterthe data reading operation ends.

According to the embodiments of the invention, a continuous shootingspeed may be improved by performing a shutter operation and a read outoperation of imaging data in parallel.

The embodiments described herein may comprise a memory for storingprogram data, a processor for executing the program data, a permanentstorage such as a disk drive, a communications port for handlingcommunications with external devices, and user interface devices,including a display, keys, etc. When software modules are involved,these software modules may be stored as program instructions orcomputer-readable codes, which are executable by the processor, on anon-transitory or tangible computer-readable media such as read-onlymemory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), a compact disc (CD), a digitalversatile disc (DVD), magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storagedevices, an electronic storage media (e.g., an integrated circuit (IC),an electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM),and/or a flash memory), a quantum storage device, a cache, and/or anyother storage media in which information may be stored for any duration(e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, brief instances, fortemporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). Thecomputer-readable recording medium can also be distributed overnetwork-coupled computer systems (e.g., a network-attached storagedevice, a server-based storage device, and/or a shared network storagedevice) so that the computer-readable code may be stored and executed ina distributed fashion. This media can be read by the computer, stored inthe memory, and executed by the processor. As used herein, acomputer-readable storage medium excludes any computer-readable media onwhich signals may be propagated. However, a computer-readable storagemedium may include internal signal traces and/or internal signal pathscarrying electrical signals therein

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of theinvention, reference has been made to the embodiments illustrated in thedrawings, and specific language has been used to describe theseembodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the invention isintended by this specific language, and the invention should beconstrued to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to oneof ordinary skill in the art.

The invention may be described in terms of functional block componentsand various processing steps. Such functional blocks may be realized byany number of hardware and/or software components configured to performthe specified functions. For example, the invention may employ variousintegrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processingelements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carryout a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, where the elementsof the invention are implemented using software programming or softwareelements the invention may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, Java, assembler, or the like, withthe various algorithms being implemented with any combination of datastructures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements.Functional aspects may be implemented in algorithms that execute on oneor more processors. Furthermore, the invention could employ any numberof conventional techniques for electronics configuration, signalprocessing and/or control, data processing and the like. The words“mechanism” and “element” are used broadly and are not limited tomechanical or physical embodiments, but can include software routines inconjunction with processors, etc.

The particular implementations shown and described herein areillustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwiselimit the scope of the invention in any way. For the sake of brevity,conventional electronics, control systems, software development andother functional aspects of the systems (and components of theindividual operating components of the systems) may not be described indetail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors shown in thevarious figures presented are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships, physical connections or logical connectionsmay be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component isessential to the practice of the invention unless the element isspecifically described as “essential” or “critical”.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the invention (especially in the context of thefollowing claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural. Furthermore, recitation of ranges of values herein are merelyintended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually toeach separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicatedherein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specificationas if it were individually recited herein. Finally, the steps of allmethods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”or “for example”) provided herein, is intended merely to betterilluminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope ofthe invention unless otherwise claimed. Numerous modifications andadaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of controlling an electronic device, themethod comprising: displaying an image based on an image signal inputthrough an image pickup device; driving a shutter in response to acapturing signal, wherein the shutter comprises a front film and a rearfilm; reading data from the image pickup device during a data readingtime period; driving the front film and the rear film of the shutterduring a time interval overlapping the data read time period, whereinthe front film is driven away from the rear film when the data readingtime period ends; and displaying a next image when the data reading timeperiod ends.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the next image isdisplayed as a next live view image after the data reading time periodends.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the shutter is a focal planeshutter.
 4. A method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus,the method comprising: displaying a first live view image; performing afirst operation by driving a shutter so as to perform a first imagecapturing operation in response to a shutter release signal, wherein theshutter comprises a front film and a rear film; exposing an image pickupdevice to light; reading data from the image pickup device during a datareading time period; and performing a second operation by driving thefront film and the rear film of the shutter during a time intervaloverlapping the data reading time period so as to display a second liveview image while reading the data, wherein the performing of the secondoperation comprises: driving the front film and the rear film in a samedirection before the data reading time period ends, and driving thefront film away from the rear film when the data reading time periodends.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: displaying thesecond live view image; and performing a second photographing inresponse to the shutter release signal.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein the first photographing and second photographing are continuousphotographing operations.
 7. An electronic device comprising: a shuttercomprising a front film and a rear film; an image pickup device thatphotographs a subject; and a digital signal processor that displays animage based on an image signal input through the image pickup device,drives the shutter in response to a capturing signal, reads data fromthe image pickup device during a data reading time period, drives thefront film and the rear film of the shutter during a time intervaloverlapping the data reading time period in response to a second drivingcontrol signal, and displays a next image when the data reading timeperiod ends, wherein the front film is driven away from the rear filmwhen the data reading time period ends.
 8. The electronic device ofclaim 7, wherein the digital signal processor comprises: a shutter drivecontroller that outputs driving control signals; and a data reader thatreads the data from the image pickup device.
 9. The electronic device ofclaim 7, wherein the front film and the rear film are driven up and downin the shutter, the second driving control signal is a signal fordriving the front and rear films in a same direction during the timeinterval and for driving the front film away from the rear film when thedata reading time period ends.
 10. The electronic device of claim 7,further comprising a display unit that displays an image signal inputthrough the image pickup device as a live view image according tocontrol of the digital signal processor, wherein the digital signalprocessor controls the display unit to display a next live view imageafter the second driving control signal is output.